Picture this. It’s a couple of weeks until Christmas and you have a shopping list with the perfect gift idea for each member of your family and every friend you have. You know you will be buying over twenty presents, but you’re not concerned about the cost.
Plus you have the time to shop. You’ve gone drinking with work mates, and enjoyed the office party. Your friends are organising catch-ups almost every night, and when you arrive late for work, no one cares. It’s Christmas for goodness sake.
Money is no object as your living wage covers all expenses and doesn’t leave you in the poor house. In fact, you’ve covered everything with your savings account, as credit is only for long term purchases.
This was the early eighties, when my girlfriend and I enjoyed every minute of finding the right gift for our long list of loved ones. Shopping wasn’t a chore, it was an adventure. And our busy Christmas day consisted of lunch with her mum, and dinner with my family.
The lead up began in November. It wasn’t a last minute thing. We were even allowed a paid half day off from work just to do our Christmas shopping. We looked forward to that day in December as it was never just around the corner.
Fast forward to today. There’s no lead up to the holidays. There’s one office party. Work continues to the eleventh hour. No one catches up at the pub with friends on the last day of work, of which you left early. And plans are made on the fly.
This year it came so fast, my partner and I forgot one of our yearly rituals – the Christmas Cards. Our apartment used to have so many cards addressed to us, we’d have to string them up around the living room. This year we forgot to send ours. A few came in the mail to remind us.
So how do we save Christmas in a time poor world? Easy. Just love. Let those who you hold dear know you love them. Let those who’d least expect a kind word from you, hear one. And call those who haven’t heard from you in a while, and talk. Make time to let them all know they’re in your thoughts.
Merry Christmas.
kevin klehr 